Shelter slapped with 40 code violations

The owner of a local nonprofit animal shelter has been cited by Nye County Animal Control for more than 40 county code violations including animal cruelty and sanitation problems that were reportedly discovered inside her facility earlier this year.

Mary K. Miller, owner of All the Same Wild and Tame, located at 6091 Gills Way, has been cited for 25 counts of animal cruelty, 14 counts of sanitation issues and two counts of failing to control disease as a result of an investigation launched into the business by animal control officers in July.

A criminal case has since been filed in the local Justice Court following the issuance of the citations.

Animal control first responded to the property on July 24 after the agency said it received a report that animals living at the shelter were not being properly cared for.

Two days before the investigation began, several of Miller’s staff members also reportedly walked out on the shelter citing unbearable working conditions at the location.

Former All the Same Wild and Tame staff member Karen Crispell told the Pahrump Valley Times in July she witnessed several dogs and cats die after coming to the shelter from lack of nutrition and medical care. She also said often there were too many animals to care for with the little staff the shelter had working at any given time.

The ordinances Miller is alleged to have violated are Nye County Codes 6.07.020, cruelty, subsection C; 6.13.100, sanitation, subsection C and 6.13.110, program to control disease care for health, subsections A and B.

According to subsection C of the cruelty ordinance, “it is unlawful for any person to deprive an animal of necessary sustenance, food or drink, or neglect or refuse to furnish it such sustenance or drink.”

Subsection C of the sanitation ordinance mandates facility enclosures be cleaned and “excreta are removed at least once daily to prevent contamination and to reduce to a minimum odors and the risk of disease,” and “each such primary enclosure is disinfected at least once daily and before placing another dog or cat in the enclosure.”

And subsections A and B of the program to control disease care for health requires “each animal is observed daily by the person directly responsible for its care, or by someone else under that person’s direct supervision,” and “blind, lame, injured, ill or diseased animals are provided with the appropriate veterinary care that is consistent with the purposes for which an animal is being kept or humanely euthanized.”

A call to the animal control office for further comment on the citations was not immediately answered before press time Thursday.

Attempts to reach Miller for comment at the shelter were also unsuccessful. The door to the business was locked and the shelter’s phone line was busy each time a call was placed to the business.

Miller is scheduled to appear in Pahrump Justice Court on Dec. 31 to be arraigned on the citations.